Oriented service

This year, the zone has specifically required some senior government officials to establish direct contact with key companies to ensure they could react to businesses' requests effectively. The effort is expected to benefit 329 key projects and 205 businesses in the region this year, according to the zone.

Guo Hui, a staff member of the zone's department of organization, who is in charge of government staff members' work performance assessment, said that responsible government officials have to visit businesses every week and collect the latest information about projects. They are also required to provide solutions to problems that occur during construction processes.

The mechanism has helped businesses solve more than 100 problems in less than half a year, according to local officials. Feedback shows that businesses are satisfied with this new mechanism.

"Officials from the zone's Economic Development Bureau visit us several times in a month. They help us to go through possible problems in advance so our new projects can progress more smoothly," said Yang Chunhong, a project manager from the Weifang Special Steel Group.

The zone has developed mechanisms including error-tolerance techniques and new performance assessment arrangements to encourage government staff members to be more responsible. On the other hand, it has mechanisms to evaluate and penalize officials and government employees whose productivity fails to meet the required standards.